From AL.com:

Halloween kicked off early at a Homewood elementary school, where students were greeted by one of horror’s most disturbing characters Tuesday morning.

A person dressed as Pennywise, the child-killing clown from Stephen King’s 1986 horror novel “It,” greeted students at Shades Cahaba Elementary School near the carpool dropoff on Tuesday, according to a social media post from a local parent.

A photo posted to Facebook shows a costumed individual standing near the front parking lot of the school wearing the character’s signature ruffled coat and pants, as well as a mask with the clown’s iconic slicked red hair and evil grin.

Jeven Sloan, the author of the post, told AL.com that he and other parents had no idea who the person was, but it appeared that school officials quickly shooed them away.

“I was filling up at the gas station when I took that picture, and by the time I filled up, they had already walked off and were walking back down Hollywood [Blvd.],” Sloan said, laughing. “So it definitely was not a school sanctioned thing at all.”